What Upper Limit of Power Do you Prefer On Your Rifle Scope?

[ken snyder]

A persons eye sight is extremely important in scope selection. Choose a magnification range that best serves you. My personal choice is to look at the magnification range as a teeter totter and place equal value to the lowest magnification the scope has when compared to its highest magnification. Everyone is different, but I think that a person will find himself wanting a lower magnification more often than wishing he had more.

 

[4runnerman]

I have one of these on my 30-30 and I have a hard time seeing my hits at 200 or more yards. I am looking at a 10-40X50 to put on my new Marlin X7VH to use at 500 or more yards. Will this work?

JohnBZ--Yes it will work great. I have same scope on my 308. I have no problem seeing holes from 223's out to 450 yards with it. It beats a spotting scope hands down.Field of view is smaller ,but all we need to see is the target any how.

 

[Pistol packer]

different scopes for different purposes. 4X fixed on the 45-70 bear gun with see thru mounts. 1-4X on ruger redhawk 400 yard stock pistol. 10 X straight on 22-250 XP-100, 4-12 burris on 77-22 and 3-9 on all other 22--dont do competition or would go higher. if i did competition would have the highest magnification i could hold as the eyes are weak (started in the 60's with 20-5 vision--truly eagle eyes and never shot anything but iron).
long range rifles wear 6-24 or better. i like the spotting scope option with these scopes, keeps carry weight down and 6 X is perfect for carry. keep the AO on 100 and 6X on power for carry quick shots to 200 yards. game tends to sit still longer at ranges over 200 and allows me to adjust the scope from those settings.
a class mate of mine as a junior in HS showed me how to keep both eyes open as he was fond of shooting water fowl with a browning 22 in the air. have never had trouble finding even the smallest target with the highest magnification scope since. helps that i can switch eye dominance to whichever eye i want.

 

[isowipe]

If you can not see it you can not shoot it, I have a 10-50x60 Nikko Stirling on my 300 Rum and it is a pearler, a bloke at the range had a look through it and recons it has better glass than his Leopold which had been boosted to a similar magnification as mine.

 

[tuck2]

The upper limit for me is different for the rimfire, varmint, and big game rifles. Rimfire 14x, varmint 20X and 4X on woods rifles and 12 X for open country big game.

 

[Pistol packer]

the upper end of the range of magification has many variables. what are you going to use the scope for? how much are you going to spend? how well can you see thru a scope? are just a few parameters. i have had to operate off a small buget. my target rifle is a modified factory rifle. in fact, it was originally a winchester western M70 for about 200$ in 300 WM for the ease of getting brass and economy. the scope is a burris signature in 6-24 with mil dot reticle. i can hunt close range with a 6, i keep both eyes open so i see 2 sight pictures and am able to shoot moving game that way. i use the 24 power for long range shooting and spotting. if $ were no problem i would get a nightforce or zeiss in 8-32 power, maybe even a speciallized rifle just for extreme long range and a fixed 40 power for long range and a 6-24 for hunting. the higher the magnification, the more severe the mirage, low light problems increase as well as the limit of shooting in lower light, etc. some people cannot find targets with a fixed high power or spend an inordinate amount of time trying to do so. so it depends on how the shooter sees and his abilities to use the scope proposed. find a friend or a dealer who will loan out various scopes and try them out if you are inexperienced. try low light, bright light, various terrain and weather conditions to find the best one for you. good hunting for all.

 

[TRG300WM]

i just purchased a competition Leupold 40x45 with target dot, for bench-rest shooting with side focus. its an awesome scope if you like to see the hairs on flees at 100 yards.

 

[blksno]

I would quite possibly give my left pinky finger for a March FX 5x40x56 FFP or even the 8-80 model.

The biggest reason no one wants something with 32-40 on the high end...is reduced elevation travel...and the low end is too high.
Now that this isn't a restriction...it comes down to price. When that comes back down to earth, I'll be waiting in line.

A spotting scope is just one less thing to take to the field.

 

[Brno308]

I do bush and plains hunting and find my scope 6.5x24x44 to be exactly what I require. At 59 my eyesight has deteriated somewhat and with our tough african game, you better have the right shot placement or you go home empty handed.

 

[poncaguy]

3x12x40 is about all I need......scopes start getting to large and heavy with anything bigger...........

 

[martyj]

I do most my hunting on the lower side of a variable scope.
I tend to like 4x16 or even 3x9

 

[Whitesheep]

Maybe you can't vote because your vote is not politically correct (just kidding)

I agree with Grit. It depends on the job. I chose a 1x4 for a close range hunting gun because I want to be able to shoot with both eyes open on small moving game (Javalina) yet still have some range abilitygun). For bigger stuff, like coues deer in SE AZ, I like a higher power like 14 since that is all I can hold still in a sitting position with sticks. Prone rarely works for me as I can't see over the grass and cholla.

 

[Methow Packer]

For a hunting rifle I use to think 3x9 was enough but to reach out past 400 yards it's not. So for me to have the best of close in and far away I've changed to 4x14 40 mm side focus for the best options. If I wanted to go for 1000 yards I would need to rethink scopes but then does a guy want to pack a larger scope around? I guess you can't have one size to do all.

 

[Firetec]

I shoot the nxs npr 5.5x22 on my rifles. I was raised on 3x9s like I am sure many of you were but I like the 22 power.